Food Waste A Problem, But How Big?

Many of us, if we’re old enough, remember being told as kids not to waste food. Throwing away food was a major no-no, at least in the house I grow up

Now, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, along with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, has launched the U.S. Food Waste Challenge. Producers, processors, retailers and communities are being asked to reduce food waste, which government officials estimate at 30-40 percent of the U.S. food supply.

According to USDA, an estimated 133 billion pounds of food from U.S. retail food stores, restaurants, and homes didn’t make it into people’s stomachs last year.

I’ve never worked in a supermarket or restaurant. I have no idea of how much food is wasted there. So it’s hard for me to evaluate USDA’s estimates.

What do you think? Do the 30-40 percent and 133 billion pounds figures seem realistic to you?

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1 Response

I believe that more food is wasted than they can imagine. If you take into consideration the food in the restaurant industry, along with the food supplies in the general population, there are areas that they just can’t be aware of. It’s pathetic that, in this country(where we’re supposed to be the best & brightest- lol), we waste as much food as we do, considering that we provide alot of the world’s food supply. In the midst of an ever changing world, EVERYONE needs to be conscience of what were doing here. It’s not as though people don’t know what’s “the right thing to do”, (eating healthy, being good to other people, spreading Love, re-using, recycling, organics, etc, etc, etc…….)but moreso, having the guts to say, “we know what the right things to do are, now let’s get to it.” I mean really, what are we doing?

ABOUT

My name is Jonathan Knutson.

I'm a North Dakota farm kid who has spent my career reporting on agriculture and business. I'm a member of North American Agricultural Journalists and currently lead our Midwest region, our biggest in terms of membership.
The photo of the "KNUTSON RD" sign was taken on my family farm. Like me, the sign has been around many years. And like me, the sign, though worn at the edges, is still hanging in there.